Engineers Week: 5 Things to Know!
This week is George Washington's birthday (Feb. 22). It's also Engineering Week. Did you know those two dates are related? Yes indeed! Read up on 5 things to know about Engineering Week.
What is an Engineer? "Engineering" is a term that houses a lot of variety. In dictionary terms, an engineer generally concerns themselves with the branch of science associated with the design, building, and use of engines, machines and/or structures. In this regard, there's numerous job titles and processes encompassed within the term "engineer." We see Civil engineers, electrical engineers, chemical engineers, mechanical engineers and many more. Though their materials may be different, they all use related skills and processes, many of which are also STEAM skills! It's difficult to imagine what your world would be like without the innovations of engineering and progressive thinking, and so it's times like Engineering Week that give us an opportunity to celebrate the engineering accomplishments of today, and look forward to the engineers of tomorrow!
What is Engineers Week?
Engineers week is a week long celebration of our national (and global) engineering accomplishments, past and present. Established in 1951, Engineering Week runs in the week of February which contains George Washington's birthday (February 22). Why George Washington? Besides being the founder of our country, he's also considered one of the consummate engineers of that time. He promoted the construction of roads, canals, the capitol, docks, ports and water works, new efforts to extract coal and develop manufacturing resource and helped establish many of the agricultural processes that built the fledgling American economy. There's a great many things for which the nation's first president will be remembered, and we'd like to think that his contributions to establishing America as an engineering nation are at the top of that list. Were he alive today, we'd also like to think he'd be a STEAMPunk himself!
What Happens on Engineers Week?
Engineering Week is observed by more than 70 engineering, educational and cultural societies, as well as more than over 50 corporations and government agencies. Many organizations hold conferences to celebrate and showcase engineering developments of the year, while school's hold science and technology fairs to promote these skills early on. It's also during this time that the Federal Engineer of the Year Award is announced. On a more granular scale, it's an opportunity for educators and other organizations to encourage engineering dialogue, as well as prepare the current generation for engineering jobs in the future.
What's this Year's Theme? The 2017 theme for National Engineers Week is "Dream Big." We recognize that many of the developments and comforts we have in our lives are the result of engineers, thinkers and inventors, pushing to make changes. Small seedlings of ideas that have blossomed forth with monumental changes to the way we live. From our systems of roads, advances in medical technology clear down to the advent of the super-soaker, engineers have and will continue to affect our lives in a direct way. Engineers push for progression and improvement in our modern lives, big ideas that forecast systems, products and innovations that don't currently exist, to solve problems we can't even predict yet!
The STEAMPunks connection. STEAM, a handy pneumonic device denoting Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Design and Mathematics, celebrates engineering and all its processes to the full capacity! As a tech-based educational initiative, we readily recognize that today's generation of youngsters will go on to solve world problems we can't even perceive yet, with the cutting edge technology engineers are producing right now! Not to mention, the extreme growth of STEM/STEAM-based careers in the workforce. From our 3D Printing courses, to our Video Game Design classes: STEAMPunks celebrates engineers and engineering processes past and present!
